The Battle (or fall) of France, in World War II, was conducted from June 5 through June 22. In reality, however the story of the Fall of France begins a few weeks earlier. On May 10, 1940 the Germans invaded neutral Belgium. As the Belgium people were unaware they were at war, they were ill prepared to stop Germany’s invasion. British and French forces attempted to aid Belgium. However, by the time the British and French arrived at the cities of Antwerp and Liege both had been taken by German paratroopers. Additionally, the German’s advanced through the Ardennes Forest. This was unexpected and effectively trapped the Allied Forces between the two German Armies. On May 28, 1940 Belgium surrendered to Germany. Little could be done to stop the German advance on France, despite armies of seemingly equal numbers.
June 5, 1940 the Germans attacked France along a 100 mile front that stretched from Sedan to Abbeville along the Somme and Aisne rivers. The French fought valiantly for four days. However the Germans broke through the line by June 9. Much of the success of the attack was due to the massive air strikes of the Luftwaffe.
On June 10, 1940 Italy ended its neutrality and declared war on France. War was now being waged against France in the north by Germany and in the South by Italy. By June 14 the German army advanced into Paris forcing the French government to flee the city. Fighting continued and on June 15 the Fortress of Verdun, a stronghold that never fell in the War to end all Wars, fell to the hands of the Germans.
On June 16, 1940, the French requested a release from the Anglo-French agreement to allow France to negotiate surrender terms with Germany. The following day, France requested an armistice with Germany. The Franco-German Armistice was signed on June 22, 1940. Under the agreement, Germany now occupied the French coast from the Belgium to the Spanish borders, as well as all of northern France; giving Germany control of three-fifths of France. The French army was disarmed. A smaller French Government, under Marshall Henri-Philippe Petain, established its capitol in Vichy.
On June 24, 1940 a Franco-Italian Armistice was signed ending the fighting in southern France. In the meantime, on June 23, General Charles De Gaulle established the Free French Government in London and vowed to continue to oppose the Germans.
With the fall of France, and the other Allies already defeated, Hitler turned his attention to Britain. Hitler assumed that Britain would be unable to defend herself against the great German army without assistance. He made an offer of peace talks to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, however, Hitler overlooked one fact; Britain had not been successfully invaded since the year 1066, despite centuries of attempts. The British government had no intention of giving in now. Winston Churchill and Britain were prepared to save the world from a “Dark Age”. What ensued was a monumental air battle.
Hitler’s planned invasion of Britain was code named Operation Sea Lion. He realized that in order to wage a land battle against Britain he must first reduce the Royal Air Force to virtually nothing. The German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, believed they could achieve this goal in approximately four weeks.
The Luftwaffe began bombing the English Channel and the Royal Air Force bases on July 10, 1940 and thus began the Battle of Britain. Battles continued throughout the month. The German’s suffered great losses. The British were holding their own. The Spitfire and Hurricane proved to be excellent matches against German fighters. However, the British Royal Air Force was losing valuable pilots. On August 1 Hitler issued a command that war efforts be increased and that the Royal Air Force be eliminated as quickly as possible. The Luftwaffe was to initiate intensive attacks against Air Force Bases and Radar Stations. These bombings began August 10. The loss of Radar Stations and the constant defense of Air Force Bases took its toll. The Royal Air Force was suffering losses faster than it could recover from them.
On October 7, the Germans, changed tactics and began bombing London and other major cities, unaware of the damage it had caused to the Royal Air Force. This change in tactics gave the Royal Air Force the opportunity to re-group; repairing and replacing as necessary. With increased strength and radar restored the Royal Air Force was able to attack the Luftwaffe with great success. The Luftwaffe daytime raids of major cities turned to night time raids in an attempt to reduce the Royal Air Force success during sorties; still the Luftwaffe’s ranks were diminishing.
By mid September 1940, Hitler had canceled Operation Sea Lion. Though bombing of British cities continued until April/May of 1941, the Battle of Britain had been won despite seemingly insurmountable odds.
In 1888, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, began experimenting with a new type of aircraft. It was a large (125m in length), rigid-sided, cigar-shaped airship. It used 2 Daimler engines and contained individual cell compartments filled with hydrogen gas. Often von Zeppelin was ridiculed for his attempts. However, on July 2, 1900, the first Zeppelin took flight. The rigid design of the Zeppelin allowed it to be much larger and carry heavier payloads than any blimp, and it could fly almost as fast as any other plane of its time. The difference between a Zeppelin and a blimp is the fact that a blimp is not rigid but rather a bag of gas.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin opened the doors of his own airship company is 1908 called Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, or Airship Zeppelin. At the advent of World War I, von Zeppelin was commissioned to produce Zeppelins for use in the war effort. Ninety-six such Zeppelins were produced. These Zeppelins were loaded with bombs and machine guns.
At the beginning of the war the Zeppelins were a highly feared entity. Initially there was no defense against the midnight raids of the giant monsters. In fact the Zeppelin played a large role in the Germans taking the fortresses at Liege. The under belly of the Zeppelin was painted black to disguise it the night sky. Often the Zeppelins would leave Germany at dusk, bomb England under the cover of darkness and return home, without incident. If English pilots chose to pursue the Zeppelins they were met with heavy machine gun fire.
Later in the war, however, the Zeppelins met their match (literally); incendiary ammunition. Bullets coated with phosphorous could ignite the cells containing hydrogen gas. Eyewitness accounts claim that when a Zeppelin burned it lit up the night sky. The Germans attempted to counter this lone weakness of the Zeppelin by creating super light-weight model known as the “Height Climbers”. The hope was that if the Zeppelin could rise to elevations above the capabilities of warring aircraft it would still be successful. However, this was not to be so.
In 1918, the Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI, prohibited Germany from producing airships of any kind. It seemed this would be the end of the Great Zeppelins. However the prohibition was lifted in 1926. Construction of new airships began immediately. The production of the ill-fated Hindenburg began in 1935.